The Belgian design scene is vast and diverse. Belgian institutions are always at the forefront of supporting the people, new projects and products that make our country dynamic and unique.
Permafungi : collaborative nature
Permafungi is the realisation of a somewhat crazy challenge: to recycle some of the 7 billion tonnes of coffee grounds produced worldwide each year. Once collected and processed, these coffee grounds are used as a substrate for growing oyster mushrooms, but also for producing a myco-material.
For several years now, the Brussels-based PermaFungi project, already fully invested in the production of edible mushrooms, has also been transforming ‘champost’ (the residue from oyster mushroom cultivation) into a sustainable and biodegradable material by adding mycelium, the seed of the mushroom. This innovation has led to the recent opening of a second production site and the growing presence of this myco-material in upcoming design projects. We met Julien Jacquet, CEO of this extraordinary project, which is set to become ‘the norm’.
What is striking about this project is that, at the outset, people might have thought you were mad.
That was the case. We were true idealists, convinced that we could create a new business model. When we started the project in 2014, we collected nearly 100 kilos of coffee grounds per day by bicycle. We didn’t keep up that pace for very long, but it’s a good indicator of our level of commitment.
